Saint Martin’s University Welcomes Author Brian Doyle to Les Bailey Writers Series

Brian Doyle
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Submitted by Saint Martin’s University

Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle

Acclaimed author Brian Doyle, whose 14 books of nonfiction, essays, poems and stories provoke deep thought as well as laughter, will be the inaugural author for the Les Bailey Writers Series at Saint Martin’s University.

The event will be held Wednesday, October 8, at 7 p.m. in the University’s Norman Worthington Conference Center, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE. It is free and the public is invited to come and enjoy the lyrical and matchless style of the award-winning author as he talks about his craft and reads from his works.

The title of his presentation says much about his witty language play and the topics he will explore in the presentation: “Grace under duress, stories as food, laughter as a weapon against the dark, courage when it doesn’t make any sense, and minor further discussion of basketball, writers, hawks, headlong children, the prevalence of miracles and thorny holiness.”

The series is presented by the University’s English department with funding from the Leslie G. Bailey Endowment. The endowment honors the gifted and inspiring Saint Martin’s University English professor, Les Bailey, Ph.D. A 1964 Saint Martin’s alumnus, Bailey returned to his alma mater in 1975 as a faculty member, continuing to teach until his death in 2010.

The new series will bring writers and authors of note to campus to read and discuss their books, a practice that was an especially meaningful part of Bailey’s teaching philosophy. He shared his great passion for the written word with students, inviting them over the threshold of a book to explore the deeper themes and meanings of life captured in its pages, and to go beyond the book to discover each author’s history and motivations, helping students reach new insights into a work of poetry or fiction.

Associate Professor of English Jeff Birkenstein, Ph.D., who chairs Saint Martin’s English department, says the University could not have found a more fitting author for the inaugural session of the writers series.

“Les was a dear friend and a rock on this campus for many, many years,” Birkenstein says. “He influenced generations of students and, frankly, remains a presence here at Saint Martin’s. This writers series is a fitting part of Les’ legacy, and Brian Doyle is a natural author to bring to Saint Martin’s. Team teaching with anthropologist David Price, Ph.D., I have used his work in my own classes, most notably his excruciatingly beautiful poem about the morning of 9/11, “Leap.” In just a few prose paragraphs, he captures so much that is, no doubt paradoxically, good about that horrible morning.  Mr. Doyle has much to teach us.”

Doyle, winner of numerous awards, lives in Portland, where he also is editor of Portland Magazine, the University of Portland publication named by Newsweek as “the best university magazine in America.” His writings have been featured in prominent national magazines and newspapers. Doyle’s essays have appeared in four of the highly acclaimed “Best American Essays” series, including the “Best American Essays of 2013.” His books span the gamut from “The Wet Engine: Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Heart,” a moving story about his son’s heart defect and the surgeons who helped him, to “Mink River,” a joyous novel about a small fictional town on the Oregon coast.

Prior to his public reading and discussion, Doyle will speak with Saint Martin’s students about writing and literature.

In selecting an author to lead off the series and work personally with the University’s students, Professor of English Olivia Archibald, Ph.D., says the committee took into consideration the essence of Bailey’s ultimate goals. “Les wanted students to leave his courses with more than just exposure to good literature.  He wanted to leave them with a passion and commitment to lifelong reading.”

“He defined our English department’s purpose as a commitment to the act of awakening students to the magnificence of literature and its truths about the human family,” Archibald explains.  “We are so fortunate to have Brian Doyle as our inaugural presenter in this series since so much of what he writes, whether novels, short stories, or essays, enacts what Les was about – the power of literature to give meaning to our lives.”

More information on Doyle’s presentation can be found at here.

 

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